Author Archive
Breaking the Code
by admin on May.04, 2009, under Theatre
BREAKING THE CODE by HUGH WHITEMORE at the Nomad Theatre
Alan Turing has only recently been commemorated in Guildford. His statue was placed on the University plaza in 2004 and a road in the business Park has been named after him. Yet although he lived in Guildford for some time, according to the Tourist Office, there is no blue plaque for him. Why not?
Breaking the Code is being performed The Nomad Theatre, Bishopsmead Parade in East Horsley from Wednesday 13th May to Saturday 16th May at 8pm.
This is a compassionate and often amusing play concerning the remarkable mind and tragic fate of Alan Turing, mathematician and computer pioneer who broke the code in two ways. One was by cracking the German Enigma code at Bletchley Park during World War 11 for which he was decorated by Churchill and lauded by the state.
The second was by shattering the gentlemanly English code of sexual discretion and making little attempt to disguise his homosexuality; for this he was arrested on a charge of gross indecency.
Whitemore’s play, shifting back and forth in time, constantly seeks to find a connection between the two events and tackles major questions such as the relationship between mathematics and personal morals, while telling a very good story.
“It is the work of a superb theatrical craftsman who knows how to keep an audience hooked while planting ideas like seeds” –
The Guardian
Tickets are 11.00. Call the box office on 01483 284747 on Saturdays from 10.00 to 12.30 pm. Leave a message on the answerphone at other times or book online.
My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Lowe
by admin on Apr.01, 2009, under Shows, Theatre
It is hard to believe My Fair Lady was first performed in 1956, the film was made in 1964! Anyone who loves musicals will have seen one or the other perhaps both. So why come to the Nomad Theatre from 22nd to 25th April at 7.30 pm and see it again – because it is a wonderful show. Enjoy again the lyrical “On the street where you live”, the prim “Ascot Gavotte”, the scurrilous “With a little bit of luck” and the lovely “I could have danced all night”.
Meet Professor Henry Higgins an appalling misogynist, rude, selfish and domineering “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” Meet Eliza Doolittle the feisty flower girl who takes up Higgins’ offer to teach her how to speak like a duchess “Wouldn’t it be luverly?” And of course, Alfred P Doolittle, the bone idle, self proclaimed member of the undeserving poor.
It will be 15 years since Bookham Light Operatic Society (BLOS) staged My Fair Lady for the first time back in 1994. BLOS like many societies do not have a home of their own and perform in a variety of different venues, such as The Adrian Mann Theatre, The Leatherhead Theatre, and most frequently at Fetcham Village Hall, which has seen many of their Gilbert and Sullivan performances.
This April, however, will be the beginning of a new and exciting venture for BLOS and the Nomad Theatre. In the past BLOS have taken a previously staged show and performed it for one or two evenings at the Nomad Theatre. But this time BLOS will be performing My Fair Lady exclusively at the Nomad Theatre in collaboration with the Nomads.
Members of the Nomads will be joining the BLOS cast and backstage crew for the first time. BLOS members are looking forward to enjoying facilities not normally experienced in the past. A raked auditorium, a licensed bar, proper dressing rooms and the level of technical equipment that most sound and lighting people can only dream about.
The show is directed Margaret Parfitt, whose recent credits include Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado and The Gondoliers. The musical director is James Marr, on loan from Mid Surrey Theatre Company.
BLOS and the Nomad Theatre look forward to welcoming you to this very special production. Tickets are 12.00 for adults, 10.00 for children 12 yrs and under. Evening performances start at 7.30 and there is also a matinee at 2.30 on Saturday 25th. Call the box office on 01483 284747 on Saturdays from 10.00 till 12.30pm. Leave a message on the answerphone at other times, or even book online here.
The Government Inspector Review
by admin on Mar.17, 2009, under Theatre
GOGOL’S The Government Inspector. March 13th 2009
Traditionally, Friday 13th is considered unlucky. For those of us seated in The Nomad Theatre on that evening the absolute reverse was true. We were exposed to the most brilliantly funny and skilfully executed performance of this rarely performed play.
The opening moments revealed a beautiful Palladian style room set. We had only a few moments in which to appreciate it, before it was filled with a growing crowd of players, all in full period dress, to-ing and fro-ing with huge energy and setting the scene for what we immediately knew would be a comedy.
This, of course, is no ordinary comedy, it is Russian. That means two things. It is long and generally very subtle! In this case not overly subtle since Ian Nicholls had worked every detail of the comic and ironic moments to such a degree that there was not a second when we were not treated to some visual or verbal, side-splitting hilarity. One could look at any character at any moment during the performance and find something of interest to make one smile. This is no mean feat with such a large cast. Director and players deserve warm congratulations.
Such successful performances are undoubtedly the result of very close and happy team work. However, if the play is Russian, it tends to have one or two giant roles on which the whole thing balances. Here again this play ran true to expectation. The Mayor played by John Norris and Khlestakov played by Steve Rowland displayed huge energy and enviable feats of memory in delivering their roles brilliantly while ably supported by the rest of the company. It would be invidious to try to comment individually on any of the other players since they all played with great commitment throughout, creating a plethora of beautifully observed characters . They brought to life every aspect of the town’s rather eccentric populations and its life. We enjoyed meeting them all.
Scene changes are usually “cough and shuffle” pauses. No time for such in this performance. The scene changes were efficient and imaginatively executed. They melted into and became part of the performance. As the set was fairly minimal, it was all rearranged in a flash as and when required. What furnishing there was, was pertinent, stylish and attractive to the eye.
The costume was delightful and worn with a real sense of period. The use of colour was really lovely, enhanced by the lighting, of course. The magenta splashes were particularly effective. The whole performance was enhanced by live and specially written music, something that one normally associates with West End shows.
The company played to an almost full house. It would have had long queues waiting for returns had people really appreciated the treat on offer. This is no ordinary village theatre, no ordinary company of players and no ordinary repertoire. Thank you ALL for a very special evening.
Greenroom Constitution & Photos of the Government Inspector
by admin on Mar.16, 2009, under Theatre
Notification of Greenroom EGM
Owing to changes in the licensing law and also in the way the theatre is now run, a revision of the old constitution of the Greenroom Club has become necessary. A draft constitution has been prepared by the committee. In order to ratify this, an Extraordinary General Meeting is being held on Tuesday, 31st March at 8pm in the bar.
Copies of the proposed new constitution are available in the foyer or, alternatively, it may be examined on the theatre website.
Please try and support this meeting. It would be helpful if you could contact me to let me know if you are coming; we need a quorum (20 people) to pass the amendments. The bar will, of course, be open after the meeting — so do stay for a drink and enjoy a sociable Members’ Evening!
You can view the constitution here, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it which most computer should have:
The Government Inspector
The end of a great show this week. The following are a couple of photos from the show
The Government Inspector & Interview with Ian Nichols
by admin on Feb.26, 2009, under Shows, Theatre
I managed to grab a couple of minutes with the director of The Government Inspector, Ian Nichols. Sorry about the quality of the video we only had a very short about of time available. As well as talking about the production Ian also talks about how he became a director and advise for anyone wanting to become a Director. Click the image below to start playing the video.
The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol
Public officials who are in denial about their own incompetence! Officials who are guilty of fraud, greed or hypocrisy. Sounds familiar these days!
The Nomads will be performing The Government Inspector at the Nomad Theatre, Bishopsmead Parade, East Horsley from Tuesday to Saturday 10 -14 March at 8pm.
Nikolai Gogol’s comedy was first performed in 1836 in Tsarist Russia, a society supposedly very different from our own. Yet as one character says, “He doesn’t pay his bill, he must be a government inspector!” Change inspector for any one of the people described in the news as those who cheat the system or don’t pay their way and you quickly see the play’s relevance.
The Government Inspector is set in a small town where corruption is a way of life and the Mayor and his cronies live well at the expense of shopkeepers and townspeople. Their world is turned upside down when they hear that an inspector is coming to report on them.
The characters are preposterous. The postmistress drinks heavily but also uses the mail as reading material for her leisure hours. The Director of Education is a pathetic, cringing personality, scared of his own teachers. The Magistrate is a womaniser but why does he keep geese in the courtroom? The Health Commissioner has sold the hospital beds and doesn’t believe in using medicine on patients, while the doctor only speaks German throughout. The Mayor is tyrannical, ambitious, smug and self-serving, yet he has to contend with a wife and daughter as bizarre as any of the other characters.
Into this mix comes a penniless traveller with a talent for fantasy and an eye to the main chance. Unwittingly at first but with increasing cunning he takes advantage of them all.
Alastair Beaton, one of the writers of Drop the Dead Donkey and Spitting Image, has adapted the play. He is an award winning writer who has brought his own satirical wit to the task of translating Gogol’s masterpiece.
Director Ian Nichols says, “This is a really wonderful show to work on and I am thoroughly enjoying directing comedy.”
Tickets are 11.00. Call the box office on 01483 284747 on Saturdays from 10.00 to 12.30 pm. Leave a message on the answerphone at other times or visit www.nomadtheatre.com.
Let Loose this weekend
by admin on Feb.02, 2009, under Shows, Theatre
Let Loose this Weekend!
This weekend was a Let Loose weekend! The aim of the Nomad Let Loose Programme is to enable people with all types of disability to participate in the performing arts. The video below is a video created during last years Play in a Week called “The Archivist”. If you would like to help out in the next Play in a Week, like to be involved or even fund the programme please let us know!
The Video below is quite large and on some slower internet connections it maybe better to download it first and then play it.
Film Night:
It might also be worth reminding everyone that Wednesday’s film is “Doctor Zhivago”, so wrap up warm for the Siberian winter! The film starts at 2pm.
Quiz Night:
With only two weeks to go, it’s time to confirm your tables. Please let Sarah Thomas know or email us. Have your payments and team members, by post to the Theatre. If you have not yet joined a table, please tell Sarah and she will be able to link you up with others.
Nomads Theatre Tour
by admin on Nov.02, 2008, under Theatre
I managed to collar Julian into giving a quick theatre tour, it was very last minute and sorry about the quality. I also apologise for the state of the theatre its not usually this messy but everything is a bit manic because there are two shows going on at the same time and one show had just finished so there was a lot of costumes and bits of set all over the place and people were rushing around tidying up. Enjoy!
Also if no one saw the previous blog, unfortunately one of the kids has had to pull out of Annie so were now looking for a boy aged 12 - 14 to play Dillon.
We are also still looking for a Drake (English butler non singing haughty older actor) and a Rooster (singing dancing loud role) anyone know any candidates please let us know.
First Annie video diary entry
by admin on Nov.02, 2008, under Interviews, Shows, Theatre
Well here it is the very first video diary. Most of it was filmed last weekend so in this podcast:
- We take a look in at the first Annie rehearsal and find out how we managed to loose one of our cast before we had started!
- I do an interview with Julian Pindar who has been acting at the Nomads since he was 8 and is now a professional actor heading to the West End in January next year. He talks about how he got into acting from Nomes and some tips he learn’t along the way.
Sorry about the sound and video quality we’ll get it right! Anyone wishing to audition for Molly or work on the Annie crew in our production of Annie please contact us.
Annie Box Office Opens!
by admin on Nov.02, 2008, under Shows, Theatre
The Box Office is now OPEN! You can now book tickets by ringing:
01483 284747
This show is going to be truly fantastic, I personnally think this is the strongest singing casts the Nomads has ever had. I just can’t wait!
Unfortunatly one of the kids has had to pull out so were now looking for a boy aged 12 - 14 to play Dillon.
We are also still looking for a Drake (english butler non singing haughty older actor) and a Rooster (singing dancing loud role) anyone know any candidates please let us know.
Welcome to the Nomads Blog
by admin on May.03, 2008, under Theatre
This is the first posting of the Nomads blog. Hopefully each week we will be giving you information on whats going on at the nomads. Watch this space!